Who here chews each bite 50 times?

I've always eaten slow. My handle was not arbitrarily picked. I tend to eat slow and almost constantly. :) Recently I've had some indigestion. I've read somewhere that chewing your food completely can help with indigestion/GI track. Anyways I've started chew each bite 50 times and I found the exercise fun. I notice what the food does for me, and I can eat even more!

Too often, I am so hungry that I find myself scarfing down food like a wolf. After a bit I slow down, but the damage is done. Sooner or later I will get gas, and blam my appetite is gone. Seriously, I'm beginning to see that my North East U.S. culture is just plain wrong. Too many friends and family scarf down their food and then rush to their electronic device. Even worse some people actually eat in front of commercial T.V., or even, gulp, the news!

Food is like death and taxes. Food is about the only pleasure you can count on in life. Even if you cannot taste your food, the act of chewing, and relaxing is awesome. I do not get why people do not want to take time and relax. I find a lot of times I'm relieved to be in a long line or at a traffic light. Why, is my culture trying to take away the joys of eating from my friends, family, and me? Why would people defile such an almost sacred time with commercial T.V., and be at the mercy of the T.V.?

Do people who eat fast or huddle in front of an electronic device find life not worth living? To reject food is to reject life, in my opinion. That's why after a funeral, a feast is given, to celebrate life.

I'm a restaurateur and for literally 32 years have accepted the fact that all of my meals taken at work will be interrupted in one way or another. I'll bolt down 4-5 good bites of food voraciously, while it's still hot, then the phone will ring or a staffer will approach me with a question. When one of those two things fails to happen, I can count on a customer walking over to my table and asking me what I'm eating. So suffice it to say that a lot of my food's taken after it's sat there and become ice cold.

My friends (one of whom is a doctor) tell me this is no way to eat. They also recommend that I chew the few first, fresh, hot bites thoroughly and that way I'll get through my meal better. Do I listen? Not really.

This 'hound is not a "chewer." And I share some of the consequences with the OP.

However, when I eat, I eat. I don't watch television nor do I even read the paper or a book. I eat.

Sometimes food is about the pleasure, sometimes just about the sustenance. I've never gotten gas or sick from eating too fast but I have TMJ and the thought of chewing each bite 50 times makes my jaw hurt.:-) I'd never wolf down a tasting menu but I've wolfed down bananas after a workout, if I'm rushing around and doing errands.